READER'S ROCK LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE VOL 2 ISSUE 4 NOVEMBER 2014 Volume 1 Issue 2 July - August 2013 | Page 6

The Enigmatic Symbols of Egypt Part II

The Enigmatic Symbols of Egypt Part II

The Origins of the Great Sphinx of Egypt

One of the greatest mysteries of the ancient world is that of the origins of the Great Sphinx of Giza . Even in antiquity , the Sphinx , one of the most recognizable symbols of ancient Egypt , was under a veil of secrecy . Where did the image of the half beast - half woman come from , and why is there so much mystery surrounding her ? In the original story of the Sphinx that guards Memphis , she has the form of a half lion - half woman who also has the tail of a serpent . This may make a little more sense at the conclusion of this article , but before I share my discovery , let us first take a look at what we know about this unusual goddess .
First , the word Sphinx actually comes from the Greek language . This is not so unusual as there was much trade between the two cultures going back into antiquity , not to mention the Ptolemy Dynasty . To the ancient Egytians
Egyptians , however , this fearsome goddess who lies at the foot of the necropolis was known as Sekhmet , the lioness who guards the entrance to the Amduat , the ancient Egyptian underworld .
To understand Sekhmet is to understand all of who she was to the ancient Egyptians . This lioness held a significant place of honor in the ancient Egyptian Parthenon . She was not only the guardian of the entrance to the Egyptian underworld , but also Hathor , the daughter of Ra . Known as The Eye of Ra and Lady of the West – the land of the dead , and worshiped as a funerary goddess particularly in Thebes , she is synonymous with Isis , holding the same power , but in other tales she is the daugh
daughter of Isis . Hathor was depicted as a cow goddess , wearing the horns or fertility in her benevolent form , but in her aggressive form she was Sekhmet , the lioness .
Most of the statues of Sekhmet are of a lion-faced woman . This does make me wonder why the Great Sphinx wears a decidedly human one and possibly a male one at that . Could it be that a different face originally adorned the Great Sphinx of Giza ?
It has long been a point of speculation as to what face the Sphinx originally wore . Whose face is it that the Great Sphinx currently wears ? Is it the Pharaoh Tuthmosis IV ’ s visage that we look upon ? As a young man he heard the voice of the Sphinx in a dream while he napped beneath the exposed head and cleared away the sand so that he could rule one day . Or is it Djedefre , son of the Pharaoh Khufu , who built the Great Pyramid ? This young Pharaoh ruled only for a short period of time before he died and his brother , Khafre , assumed the title and built the other large pyramid on the Giza Plateau . We know that during times of economic struggle that it was common for Pharaohs to recycle many of the statues , carving their own likenesses into them . Could this have happened ? Did the Pharaoh Djedefre die too early in his reign to have a completed pyramid ?